


You Go First

by thewishingdragon



Series: Songfics [3]
Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Prepare to be sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 22:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14628432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewishingdragon/pseuds/thewishingdragon
Summary: Yet another songfic! This one is based on the song "You Go First" by Garfunkel and Oates.





	You Go First

When Heather had first proposed the idea of popularity, Veronica hadn’t thought much of it. Heather had a lot of outlandish ideas, and Veronica liked listening to her, but she wasn’t someone who cared about power. She just wanted to stay with her friend. Still, when Heather decided she wanted to be popular, and that she wanted to bring Veronica with her to the top, Veronica had agreed, not really caring about what happened as long as they got to stay together. They were a team. Veronica helped Heather, and Heather helped her. Heather was her support, and her voice when she couldn’t bring herself to speak. The least she could do in return is help her achieve her goals.

So she had agreed, and Heather smiled in that way that made Veronica feel like everything would be okay.

If they worked together, Heather’s ambition and Veronica’s intelligence, she and Heather would be at the top of the social ladder in no time.

* * *

 Sure enough, by middle school, Heather had the whole school eating out of the palm of her hand, with Veronica at her side every step of the way. It was nice, and Veronica loved how Heather seemed to flourish in her new position. And the best part was, Heather still treated Veronica the same way she always had, even after Heather Duke and Heather McNamara joined them. She didn’t have to talk if she got anxious, and Heather was patient with her when she’d slip into sign language.

But at some point, it started to feel like Heather didn’t have as much time for her. Instead, she seemed to spend an unusual amount of time and attention trying to assert control, and Veronica helped as much as she could in an attempt to keep her friend close.

It was silly. Veronica _knew_ Heather cared. She was just too busy. This was _her_ dream, after all. It made sense that she’d spend more time working on it than Veronica did.

It would be enough eventually, and then Veronica and Heather would go back to being the way they always were.

She just had to help a bit longer. She could do that. She could be patient.

Still, it didn’t seem like she’d be satisfied with what she had any time soon.

That’s okay, though. They were Heather and Veronica. They’d always been the most important thing to one another. That wouldn't change.

Right?

* * *

 They were only sophomores, and already Heather appeared to rule the school. This should have been enough. They were supposed to go back to normal now. Although, Veronica wasn't sure she wanted to anymore.

Heather was... different from what she used to be. She still helped Veronica when she was anxious, but now she just seemed annoyed with her whenever she needed to use sign language, and would always look for an excuse to not spend so much time with her.

It hurt, and Veronica missed her friend.

Duke and Mac didn’t seem to care that Heather had changed. Duke was too busy enjoying the power that came with being in Heather’s good graces, and Mac was enjoying the security of not having to worry about people bullying her.

It was like everyone had changed except for Veronica, who was still left waiting for Heather to decide she’d had enough.

She was starting to wonder how much longer Heather would keep her waiting.

* * *

 She was done.

She'd given up. Heather wasn't going to stop. They were never going back to normal. So Veronica quit. She wasn't Heather's friend anymore. Or her helper, assuming Heather had stopped thinking of her as a friend at some earlier point in time. Heather had been all she'd needed, so she didn't have any other friends, but Heather stopped needing her a long time ago.

Now she was just some ex-somebody with nobody to turn to.

She’d given too much of herself, and now there was nothing left for her to do except try to build herself back up. It was hard. Especially when Heather appeared to amass even more power despite, or maybe because of, Veronica’s absence from her life.

Without Veronica, she’d just continued on, but now Veronica had to start over. She’d spent everything she had on helping Heather get what she wanted, only to end up alone with no idea what _she_ wanted and no way to bounce back on her own.

She knew that Heather never meant to hurt her. It hadn’t been like that when they’d started. Veronica had honestly believed that Heather cared, and at first, it had been true. At first, Heather had loved her, and Veronica had felt secure in that. But time had turned them against each other as Heather lost herself to her ambition and Veronica watched her friend change until she was something unrecognizable. Now she was stuck watching while Heather accumulated power and influence, ignoring how Veronica was unable to move forward.

Maybe on some level she knew that they’d fall apart. That Heather wasn’t the kind of person to be finished until she had everything. Maybe she knew, and just chose to ignore the warning signs as Heather began to need her less and less.

Now she couldn’t even recognize her friend. She’d changed too much.

And now Veronica was just a tired girl with nothing left to give, and nobody to hold her up when the world felt like it was falling down around her.

Now, as she sat in the cafeteria, alone, a thought occurred to her.

"Real life sucks losers dry." That's what Heather always said.

Veronica laughed bitterly at herself.

"Guess I was never meant to be an eagle."

She was stuck on the ground watching Heather stretch her wings, unable to get airborne and join her.

But then again, it wasn't as if she had ever been meant to fly, was it? She was just there to get Heather off the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think! And please, don't hesitate to send me an ask at shanes-scribbles on tumblr!


End file.
